V Opinion: Taylor Swift Deserves The Glory

Music

Ever since Kanye West jacked Taylor Swift’s moment last September at MTV’s Video Music Awards, people think there’s some sort of White award-justice board compensating the 20-year-old Nashville singer/songwriter for Kanye’s antics.

When Swift won five American Music Awards last November for her late 2008 set Fearless, some folks cried foul. Headlines like, “Taylor Shows Kanye Who’s Boss,” lit up blogs. And comments like, “I never heard of Taylor Swift before Kanye snatched her microphone,” filled Twitter timelines.

The truth is, 2009 was Taylor Swift’s year. Get over it.

Again last night (Feb. 1), when Swift beat out Beyoncé (how dare she beat our B again, right?) for the Grammy’s most anticipated award, Album of the Year—her fourth trophy of the night—I heard and read the same commentary from the Internet peanut gallery. Let’s be real. Swift deserved it. Not appreciating her music doesn’t make it a nonfactor. Plus, Beyoncé already made history with six awards in one night.

Check the numbers. A little song called “You Belong With Me” was one of several country crossover cuts from Fearless that had tweens across Middle America jamming, burning up Billboard’s Hot 100 chart last year. And did you know that Fearless sold 5 million albums, beating out Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce by 3 million copies in America? Sales wise at least, Swift is a beast.

So why don’t people like her? It can’t be because she’s White. It can’t be because she’s overrated. Her stats show that she’s no flash-in-the-pan act. No one’s saying you have to frolic through the fields blasting Taylor Swift tunes. You don’t have to be a fan—just curb the hate. And when she wins, pass on the chance to say something like, “She owes Kanye a ‘Thank you.’” She doesn’t. She’s earned all the glory. She deserves this shit.